


The phantom of Yamanote Line

by Steangine



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, alternate jobs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-25 00:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3790030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aomine Daiki wasn’t used anymore to take the train daily. And he was sure nothing could make him change his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The phantom of Yamanote Line

**_ The PHANTOM of YAMANOTE LINE  
_ ** _ or “Six days during which Aomine Daiki started to think phantoms truly existed” ****_

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**_ _**

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# **Monday** _ _

Aomine Daiki hated public transports.

At 6.30 am in the morning the train of Yamanote Line was already so crowded he didn’t need to hold onto anything to stay still. Yet he had to endure the strength of the people getting out at the stops, so he couldn’t relax at all.  
It was since High School he didn’t experience that odd sensation of hot suffocation — how could those who were sitting even breath?  
_This is the last time_ , he though when the train stopped and a stream of crowd poured out from the train. _Definitely this will be the last time_ , he repeated to himself as new passengers waded into, forcing him to go deeper in the carriage until he was pressed against the opposite closed door.

“I’m sorry.”

Over the bothering bustle he heard a voice so near that he naturally thought it was talking to him.

“I’m not breathing, could you move a bit?”

“Sorry, I can’t even move my arms.” Aomine blurted out with a harsh tone.

He looked around but the people nearby seemed they weren’t paying any attention to him. He didn’t understood.

“Could you at least avoid to lean your elbow on my chest? That’s uncomfortable.”

This time Aomine caught a glimpse of a rustle behind him but couldn’t turn to clearly see his interlocutor.

“I didn’t notice you.” He moved his left arm.

“It’s the other one.”

“Okay okay.”

Aomine thought he was free again to mourn over that unlucky morning when the voice spoke again.

“I’m sorry to bother you this much but I’d like to know if you will descend at the following stop.”

“I won’t.” He tried to be rude and ended up sounding bored. “Do you need me to move?”

“That would be nice. I have a test this morning on the first hour so it would be a problem if I were to miss it.”

“Fear for your marks, boy?”

“Oh no. But since I’m the teacher this way my schedule would be subjected to a delay and the principal would be mad at me.” The voice chuckled. “I’m glad that my voice makes me sound younger than I am.”

Aomine was rather surprised but he didn’t have enough time to elaborate a sentence to make the conversation go on as the cold voice from the speakers announced the stop: he felt the tension rising around him.  
The doors opened, Aomine was carried by the flow and he took the chance to turn around to see the teacher . However he didn’t notice anyone who was directly looking at him.

“Has he already been swept away?”

He got distracted and almost turned up on the platform. But a railway worker put both hands on him and pressed him back on the train.

_ This is the last time. _

 

 

# **Tuesday**

“Good morning.”

Aomine startled. Then he realized who had just talked to him but his heart was still beating fast due to the surprise.

“Do you usually appear at the back of other people?”

“When I saw you approaching here I greeted you. Unfortunately you didn’t notice me and ended up cornering me again.”

“Are you blaming me?”

“That’s a matter of fact.”

“What?”

“That you accidentally cornered me. Or did you do it on purpose?”

“Maybe if you were a woman I would have.” Aomine had a sudden and stupid doubt. “You are a male, aren’t you?”

“When I checked this morning I was.”

“Mh…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable having a male behind me.”

“Don’t worry. If I wantedto harass you I wouldn’t have greeted you in the first place. Then I would have took advantage of the fact that nobody notices me and touched you.”

Aomine wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, since the tone didn’t change and remained as plain as it was from the beginning. So he felt the urge to change topic.

“Did the test go well?”

“I haven’t checked all the papers, but until now unfortunately nothing improved as I hoped.” He sighed. “I guess that the main issue is that most of the times my students lose sight of me even if I’m simply walking around the class.”

“…are you kidding me?”

“I’m telling the truth. I discovered that students from other classes are calling me _the phantom teacher_. It seems that, except for my students, none of them can recall me when they are told my name.”

“This seems more like a rumor to scare the freshmen.”

“Do you think so?”

“Well, phantoms don’t take trains, do they?”

The train slowly stopped and he received no answer.

“Do they?”

As he tried to look behind the doors opened and all he was able to see was the mingling of passengers flowing around him.

 

 

# **Wednesday**

On Monday his car broke down.  
On Tuesday the taxi he took went out of fuel because the control light didn’t work well.  
On Wednesday his car was still broken and not even a single taxi stopped.  
Satsuki mocked him at the phone, laughing while affirming there was some kind of spell upon him, and Aomine didn’t want to believe her. Yet his mind kept swinging among the rational remark that bad things sometimes happened and the irrational whirlpool of the bad luck which had started persecuting him two days before.

When the train stopped he managed to stay still for as much as he could until someone practically fell on his back.

“I’m sorry. They pushed me, I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“Since when you are there?”

“Just a while. You looked lost in deep thinking so I didn’t disturb you.”

“Nothing important.”

“If I don’t sound too intrusive to you, may I ask if you had some problems at work?”

“No. Everything is going smoothly. I just want my car back so I won’t take this damn train anymore.”

“Probably you’ll save you money and the environment by using public transport.”

“As long as the company refunds me it doesn’t matter. I don’t like public transports. And neither trees.”

“I see.”

Aomine tightened the grip on the handle of his suitcase. He truly wanted to turn and look at the possessor of the voice he had been talking to for the last three mornings; yet he had the impression that if he did he probably would have seen no one as always.

“It must be hard.”

The voice startled him.

“What?”

“Working as a business man. Tight schedules, big responsibilities, being stressed all day long and being always available… I couldn’t stand it.”

“Probably being a teacher is more stressful. You must deal with bunches of kids every day.”

“I work into a High School, not a kindergarten.”

“That’s the most problematic age.”

Aomine raised his head and felt stupid: he was airily talking to a stranger who he never had the chance to see even if they were so close that from time to time he felt their bodies touching lightly.  
His eyes lingered on the screen.

“We are arriving at your stop.”

“I know.” The voice had a strange inflection, a bit upset. “Will I meet you tomorrow too?”

“Probably not. By tomorrow I’ll make sure to have a car.”

“I see… well then.” The door opened. “Goodbye.”

Aomine didn’t even try to give a look. He didn’t know what he was exactly expecting but a feebly sensation of disappointment grew on him when the doors got closed again and all he could hear were the blurred voices of the passengers.  
All he wanted to do was to leave that damn train.

 

 

# **Thursday**

Aomine that morning woke up about an hour before the alarm clock rang. Usually he would have fallen asleep again until it became too late even to eat a slice of bread without rushing. However he silenced the alarm and slowly got out from the bed.  
He felt odd when he sat at the table in front of the breakfast and was aware he still had plenty of time. But he decided to go out as soon as possible, so he didn’t really enjoyed his meal.

All he had in his mind was to catch a taxi and reach his office without using any public transport. So, as the first car didn’t stop when he stretched his arm, his mood worsened.  
When a second one approached, a hurried woman was faster than him —how could she even run with those high heels? — and he could do nothing except watching the car leaving.  
The third time he almost jumped in front of the taxi and managed to get in under the puzzled look of the driver.

The car departed and Aomine let out a sigh of relief. After three days of being forced into an over-crowded train he could finally relish again the sensation of having his own comfortable space around him. He didn’t have to be attentive and avoid being kicked out at the wrong stop because of the throng of people but he simply had to stay there and wait until he was right in front of the office. Without any voices behind him.

He closed his eyes.

After few minutes he realized the car was still.

“What’s going on?”

“Traffic jam. It’s normal by this hour.”

Aomine remembered that even by car it took some time because of the traffic.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

He ended up staring at the watch so often that it seemed the minute hand wasn’t moving forward.  
The taxi was still blocked there but he had lot of time.

So Aomine didn’t understand why he was feeling so cramped in the back of the car, where he had more of the space he needed. He unbuttoned the jacked and untied the necktie. The car moved for some meters before stopping again and that was slowly giving him a glimpse of nausea which made his stomach growl.

“How much is it?”

The driver looked confused. “Ah… but…”

Aomine saw the amount on a little screen and gave him the money. “Just keep it.”

He rushed out from the car and run in the traffic until he reached the sidewalk. It wasn’t exactly fresh air, due to the pollution of Tokyo, but it was better than being into the closed space of the taxi.

“I’m late.”

He muttered as he entered the nearest train station. Yamanote Line didn’t reached that point and all the colored lines on the table just confused him more: he just came to understand he had no idea what train he had to take.

“I’m totally late…”

By that time, the previous three days, he was sulking on the platform waiting for the train. Now he was sulking on a random platform in Tokyo to take a train that wasn’t the right train.

“Tch.”

 

 

# **Friday**

Aomine still disliked public transport. Yet he traveled once again with Yamanote Line.

It was the last day of work for almost every commuter in there and the excitement for the weekend was tingling around them. Probably that was one of the reasons which made Aomine resist a bit more to the flood of people going to and fro: he was tired but the promise of two days off was giving him enough strength to resist until the end of that series of strange mornings.

“Good morning.”

The sudden voice at his back awaken him up.

“Hey…”

“You sound tired.”

Aomine didn’t reply, so the voice continued.

“Yesterday you didn’t catch this train.”

“I was in another carriage.”

“I didn’t see you on the platform.”

“Are you spying on me?”

“No. This Monday I caught sight of you by chance for the first time.” 

“So that’s what they call destiny?”

“I wouldn’t use such romantic words.” The voice, for the first time Aomine heard it, sounded quite embarrassed. “It’s more like… I have an interest in you.”

“But I’m not interested in man.”

“I understood it the first time we met.”

“We’ve actually never met, since I don’t know your face.” Aomine massaged his neck. “Moreover I’m not even sure you…” In his head that idea sounded much better than when he was about to express it, so he shut up.

“I… what?”

“…well, it’s since you talked to me that I can’t properly take a car to get to work and I’m always late. Isn’t this like a curse or something?”

“Are you saying I bring bad luck upon those I meet?”

“No. I think you are a phantom.”

Aomine didn’t know if he should have been grateful he managed to express everything all at once or if he should have just felt ashamed for the idiocy he had just blurted out. When the voice burst in a low but clear laugh, Aomine knew he just had to shut up.

“Are you mocking me?” He was disgruntled.

“N-no.” He tried to calm down. “But you sounded tender when you said it.”

“It’s not funny.”

“However I can assure you I was alive when I took the train. Don’t worry.”

“Oh yeah…?”

“You were the one who told me that phantoms don’t take trains. Yet you sound disappointed now.”

“I’m not disappointed.” Aomine snorted. “I just want this evening to arrive soon, so I can play a bit.”

“Play?”

“Basketball. It’s been a while since the last time I played.” He sighed. “I don’t even know why I’m telling this to a stranger…”

“I’m the coach of the basketball male club in my school.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. On Saturday mornings I usually play basketball at the open court near my apartment.”

That was a pleasant surprise. Aomine knew few adult people who were still doing sport when they had some free time. He chuckled.

“Where is that court?“

“It’s the one with the dog.” The voice hesitated, as he knew he gave a useless information. “It’s near—“

The cold voice of the train spread in the air. The chat was so pleasant that Aomine didn’t notice they had already reached that station.

“Ah, it’s my stop.”

Even the voice sounded surprised and before he could add anything else, the doors opened.

Aomine tried to resist to the people going out, but in the midst of the crowd his eyes didn’t manage to catch any sign of someone looking like a teacher — but how could he recognize someone he’d just talked to?

“Hey! Tell me your name!”

In a last attempt to have more information, he yelled over the heads flowing in front of him.  
However no reply came back.

 

 

# **Saturday**

Every Saturday morning, when he had his day off, Kuroko Tetsuya went to the basketball field near his apartment to play basketball. He played until the kids from the neighborhood came; sometimes he played together with them, sometimes he just watched over them and recalled the old days, when he spent entire afternoons running on the court after his friend Ogiwara Shigehiro.

“Good morning.”

In six days finally Aomine was the first to talk.

“…good morning.”

Kuroko couldn’t hide his astonishment. He wasn’t expecting to see anyone so early in the morning there and mostly he wasn’t expecting to see the man of the train.

“I’ve been waiting here for an hour. I thought you lied to me.”

Aomine finally had the chance to see the phantom of Yamanote line who had been persecuting him since the beginning of the week. There was a chance he could have talked to the wrong person, that the phantom had lied to him and that he had just given a bad impression to a complete stranger. However Aomine could tell immediately that _he_ was the phantom.

Aomine hadn’t even tried to imagine his face in the previous days, so he wasn’t neither satisfied nor disappointed by him. He was quite short in comparison to him and his appearance made him seem more like a student than a teacher. So the question blurted out from his mouth before Aomine could stop it.

“Are you really a teacher?”

“I’m 24.”

“It can’t be! I am 24! You are kidding me! You could seem my… my…” He couldn’t even continue.

“Your son?”

“Oi!” Aomine snapped. “I don’t look _that_ old!”

Kuroko made a soft laugh. “How did you find this place?”

“I used to come here often when I was young. But I wasn’t sure it was the right place. Almost no one noticed the dog drawn on the low wall there.”

Kuroko stared at him and Aomine looked back full of concern.

“What’s wrong.”

“I made it when I was 8 years old. You are the first one who says it’s a dog. Neither my childhood friend recognized it.”

“That’s quite a coincidence.” Aomine was naïvely pleased. “By the way...”

He got closer and Kuroko felt the urge to move back but Aomine’s legs where too long and he suddenly approached him. Then he flickered his forehead.

“Alright, you aren’t a phantom.”

“…again with this story?” Kuroko’s voice was quite resigned.

“Hey! What would you do if for five days a voice appeared behind you and you wouldn’t be able to actually see who spoke?!”

“Call an exorcist.”

Kuroko’s reply was so serious that Aomine didn’t know if he had to laugh. He decided to throw at him the ball.

“So, what’s your name?” 

“Kuroko Tetsuya. Nice to meet you.” Kuroko tossed the ball back.

“I’m Aomine Daiki.”

“I’m glad you came here all the way to meet me, Aomine-kun.”

Kuroko bowed and Aomine frowned.

“I just came here to play basketball. And... I don’t get why you are so interested in me.”

“Because you replied when I spoke to you and kept talking to me. Usually people take a long time to notice me and forget about me in no time. Sometimes they don’t even hear me and go away.”

Aomine was divided into pitying him and laughing at him but tried to endure every spontaneous reaction he could have had and aimed at the hoop. The ball went in smoothly.

Kuroko admired the simple but beautiful movement Aomine made to shoot. “Did you think I was romantically interested in you?” He asked with a slight smile.

For a matter of chance Aomine was giving him his back when he spend a bunch of seconds to regain his composure and avoid to blush like a teenager. “What are you talking about? I’m not interested in men.”

But inside him, so deep that the feeling still hadn’t the shape of a thought, Aomine knew he probably could make an exception for a phantom.

 

_ “Hey. Do you really think I look that old?”  
“Older people are the most charming.”  
“Wha— give me a proper reply! Tetsu!” _ __

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one shot some time ago and I posted it on tumblr. I happened to read it again and I corrected some mistakes. I truly liked it. Alternate Jobs Universes are one of the best. Thank you Fujimaki!


End file.
